Can a VPS message carry multiple signatures?

(VPS 025)

VPS messages can carry several successive signatures, and a new author certificate is then indicated in the ‘Certificates’ tab. Multiple signatures using the same signature card are ignored. If a message has been signed by several individuals, the message is only valid if all signatures are valid.

The following possibilities exist for multiple signatures:

1. All individuals sign the message successively on the same PC.
2. All people successively open a shared mailbox in accordance with Answer No. VPS 009, sign the message in the outbox, and the last one sends off the message.
3. If each person uses their own mailbox, the message can always be forwarded to the next person. In this case, a new message is always created, in which the original message is packed. The annex to this message is not directly visible at the top level. The message viewer can visualise all messages and attachments in the "Sent folder".

It should be noted for Method 3 that the overall message is getting bigger and bigger and the documentation on the signatories is saved in each individual test protocol rendering an overview difficult.

We recommend that you use Method 1 or 2 since all signatures are stored in one test protocol and the size of the entire message is not influenced. The signatures in VPSMail are successively created and saved independently. Thus earlier signatures do not get damaged by new ones. You can open the signed message and its contents without destroying the signatures.